


Seven Rings

by pinkblinder



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Black Character(s), F/M, Female Character of Color, Gangsters, Interracial Relationship, Partners in Crime, Rated For Violence, Strong Female Characters, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-05 22:52:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17927903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkblinder/pseuds/pinkblinder
Summary: Bella Andriessen has always heard from her grandmother how it would be best for her not to get involved with the Shelby family, but not all the world's recommendations have kept her from becoming close to Thomas Shelby.With Tommy's distance after the war comes, Bella goes through her own experiences that make her a different person.And when Tommy returns, she also discovers that she was not the only one who has changed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 0.**

 

* * *

 

 

The sun was almost set, Bella's breath was panting after hearing the words from her niece's mouth.

 

Bella still listened to the sob of the ten-year-old child, and the vomit craving was building up and getting larger at even imagining the scene.

 

She looked at the gun, pulling it away to see if the bullets were all inside. The white shoes were dirty on the floor of Small Heath and the wedding dress had the dirty edge too, in the middle of that scene, a third character appeared appearing not aware of the situation itself.

 

Bella pointed at her fiancé, cocked and fired.

 

The man didn't have time to react, the bullet pierced his right eye and he fell lifeless on the ground.

 

"Did ya hear that?" Tommy asked Polly from inside the betting shop, the man's aunt raised eyebrows.

 

At this very moment, John Shelby entered with an expression of excitement and astonishment.

 

"Bella fucking shot in the face of the groom!" 

 

 

 

 


	2. first shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which she sees him again.

_**FIRST SHOT** _

* * *

 

 

" **You** can go, Andriessen" the guard told her, Bella stared at him holding the bars of the cell.

 

"I can go?" she asked suspiciously. "I thought I'd be hanged."

 

The policeman didn't answer.

 

He opened the cell and the girl, walking in the corridors, confused and at the same time relieved. She had no regrets about what she had done, couldn't regret having done what the bastard deserved.

 

When she reached the outside of the prison house, massaging her aching wrists, she lifted her chin and her lips parted in surprise.

 

"Tommy," she murmured.

 

Polly Gray's handsome nephew released the smoke from his cigarette and cleared his throat.

 

"Bella," his husky voice said the girl's name.

 

Isabella could expect anyone in front of that prison, but Thomas Shelby, her childhood friend whose existence of this friendship was hidden from her grandmother, was far from expecting to see.

 

"What are you doing here?" She asked hesitantly, walked a few steps away from him and started her way back home.

 

Tommy walked beside her, not seeming to care about the torn wedding dress and her blurred makeup.

 

"Get you out of 'ere." He said without looking at her in his deep, empty voice tone.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because no one wanted your fiancé alive and he would die even if it weren't you who killed him."

 

Bella raised an eyebrow.

 

"Not a good explanation," she said quietly.

 

"No," Tommy agreed. "But that's the only explanation you'll get."

 

"It's still better than being hanged," Bella said, staring at him, Tommy still staring as he walked. "Thank you."

 

"No thanks, you'll probably pay for it later."

 

"I know," Bella insisted. "But anyone else could have come in your place."

 

"I just do what I have to do," Tommy replied pragmatically.

 

He nodded to Bella, moving away. 

 

The girl watched his back walking slower, after Tommy was far enough, she called him.

 

"Tom!"

 

He stopped, didn't turn completely, just looked to the side showing that he had heard her.

 

"Did you know what Victor did? With Nina?"

 

Shelby looked forward again, starting to walk.

 

"He had the end he deserved." 

 

Said just that, and left.

 

It was strange for her, talking to him after so long.

 

Bella and Tommy used to be friends since school, when he was a boy of twelve and she a little girl with only eight. Bella's father was Dutch, her mother came from the America to England by ship, her mother and her father met and fell in love, but the few opportunities made her father become a Blinder and die as one.

 

It was almost impossible for her mother to find a job because she was a black woman, and with the illness that came later, her mother's only choice was to give Bella her paternal grandmother to care for the girl.

 

After her mother died, Bella had been working from an early age to support her niece and grandmother.

 

Meredith took care of the girls as best she could, and always warned Bella of the dangers that the Birmingham gangs caused. Especially the Peaky Blinders, which in Meredith's mind were the ones that caused the death of her son.

 

Bella couldn't help but get close to Tommy, however much time had left him bitter ... She still thought of him before going to bed every night, and sometimes prayed for him too.

 

Secretly, Bella knew the true feelings she had for the blinder, but life took them in different ways.

 

And today, like the young bride who shot the groom on their wedding day, there were no options left but to forget the love for now.

 

Meredith was sitting in her armchair in the living room of the little house, anxiety was consuming her, but the knocking on the door made the old woman stand up complaining in a low voice and her face was stunned to see who was on the other side of the door.

 

"They said you would be hanged."

 

Bella stood up and shrugged contemptuously.

 

"They wanted to, but we never have what we want." She climbed the two steps and Meredith gave room for her granddaughter to enter. "Where's Nina?"

 

"Sleeping, it's only 6 o'clock in the morning." Bella's grandmother said closing the door. "How did you get out?"

 

"Someone helped me." She spoke without giving details and sat down on the couch, after a few seconds staring at nothing, swallowed dry at the tears coming. "I'm sorry. "

 

That simple word hit Meredith like the bullet Bella used to kill Victor. 

 

The woman knew the reason, knew that the granddaughter felt responsible for what happened Nina. Meredith couldn't blame Bella for having faith in people, it was Meredith herself who taught her.

 

"Take a shower, put on clean clothes," Meredith finally said.

 

Bella nodded, wiping the tears down her cheek.

 

"Can I sleep here tonight?" She asked hesitantly.

 

"It's your father's house, you can sleep here every day," Meredith replied to her. "But let me give you a warning, first of all."

 

The hazel-colored girl stood up and waited for her grandmother to speak.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Don't let another bad man enter this house again," she paused, then continued. "I'm talking about Thomas Shelby too."

 

Bella, feeling her heart sink into her chest, nodded again.

 

She went up to her own room, there was a bed and an antique wardrobe. Bella opened the first drawer of the wardrobe and pulled out a box from inside.

 

She sat on the floor, opening the red box and watching the objects inside her with a small smile on her lips. Some short letters exchanged between two teenagers, there was a glass of French perfume left for her by her mother, and she remembered to perfume the paper with that same perfume to deliver.

 

Bella wondered if Tommy kept his letters too, or if he had torn or thrown away.

 

She would marry Victor because he was a man with lots of money and no family. He became interested in her, which was hard to come by and said she would take care of her family as if it were his.

 

It was out of necessity, it wasn't love, her heart always belonged to other person.

 

Bella's grandmother didn't know the Thomas Shelby that Bella knew.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to "7 Rings"! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and also thank you for the comments and votes!
> 
> Tommy is a difficult character to write, I hope I have been able to write it truthfully hehe 😂 I'm having a lot of fun even though the story is in the beginning!
> 
> Thank you and see you in the next chapter!


	3. second shot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there are losses and the beginning of her business.
> 
>  

 

 

 **They** were dressed in black, Meredith had just been buried. Nina's eyes were red with tears and Bella was standing in front of her, eyes dry and serious.

 

In the corner of the room, a ginger woman waited for the other two to talk.

 

"Tina is going to Amsterdam," she said and folded her arms and looked quickly at the ginger. "You will live with her, and you will behave while you are there."

 

Nina wiped the tears from her cheeks.

 

"I can’t stay with you?"

 

Bella denied it.

 

"You have to go, Grandma would do that too."

 

"But ... Bell, I don’t want to go."

 

"We girls have to make tough choices and that's why we have to be strong." Bella bent to level her heights. "You and I are strong, Nina, and after all that you've been through, you're stronger than I am."

 

"I know," she cried. "But I want to be with you, Bell."

 

Swallowing dry, she denied it again. She pulled the girl into a hug and kissed her cheek, Nina returned her embrace.

 

"We have to go, the ship is leaving in an hour," Tina said.

 

"I love you, Bell." Nina said and Bella smiled, putting the blonde strands of the girl's hair behind her ear.

 

"I love you too, let's see each other again, okay?"

 

Nina nodded, and Tina reached for the child to pick up.

 

"Goodbye, Bella," her red-haired cousin said, giving the girl a sad smile.

 

"Take care of her." Bella spoke to Tina, and nodded to Nina one last time.

 

When the house was empty, Bella hated the feeling, putting both hands on her face and growling in frustration.

 

The instinct was to cry, but she had too much shit to do and couldn’t have decent grief.

 

Bella’s grandmother didn’t leave much debt, she had a home of her own, but everyone knew who she was after her face appeared on the front page of the newspaper. She killed her fiancé because he raped her niece, a fair exchange full of consequences.

 

Tommy said that she would pay for it later, he was right, Bella was really paying dearly.

 

But she didn’t regret it, needed more energy to pay off her debt and needed to earn money to support herself.

 

Bella started pacing back and forth, her pantry was empty and there was no way she could fill it. She didn’t get a job at The Garrison because there was a waiter working there, there were no jobs to gang up like the men did because she was a woman.

 

If she were a man, she could be a blinder like her father, Polly wouldn’t mind giving her a job if she were a man, and a man with a history of murder.

 

Not wanting to rest and trying to avoid her depressing thoughts, she pulled the shawl over her shoulders and left, closing the door of her house. The heel of her leather boot entered the damp, dirty soil of Small Heath.

 

Bella went to church, prayed even though she didn’t know honestly if anyone was listening. She pressed the rosary so tightly that the cross marked her hand.

 

After her left, decided it was late and she needed to go home.

 

That's when she found Rebecca Robinson desperately running toward a destroyed building. It took Bella a few seconds to recognize the place.

 

Curious, she approached the drive.

 

"Hey, Rebecca" stood by the afflicted woman. "What happened?"

 

"The fucking mad Anneliese dropped a candle." The woman rubbed her forehead angrily. "I couldn’t save anything from my belongings, the fire took everything."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry."

 

Rebecca sighed.

 

"I had a client, they do not even pay the fucking old pension room."

 

At that, the gears on Bella's head began to spin.

 

"When's the client?" she asked and saw Rebecca suspect her interest.

 

"For now."

 

Bella turned to her completely.

 

"You can use my house."

 

The prostitute raised her eyebrows.

 

"What, your niece?"

 

"She's gone. To Amsterdam" she explained. "You can use my house to stay the night and do your service."

 

"How much?"

 

"Two pounds"

 

"Done."

 

She gave a small smile of satisfaction as her signal had appeared.

 

Letting a prostitute use her house was a good strategy, but now Isabella was sitting on the sidewalk across the street. Rebecca was getting her client and she didn’t want to hear the woman's moaning.

 

The cold made a smoke in her breath, ran her fingers through her hair and curled into her shawl.

 

Bella was distracted looking around, her eyes widening at the approaching man. She wanted to get up and go, but Rebecca's client was still inside.

 

Tommy Shelby was like a storm, it bothered who was around because he had the kind of posture that made people fearful. Bella met him at a softer stage, he was not so tense and so obscure when they were younger.

 

There was no way Bella was unaffected by his presence, and with everything going on in her life, he affected her twice more.

 

"I didn’t know you were still in that part of Birmingham, Tom," she teased.

 

Tommy didn’t smile, paused with his hands in his pockets and looked around.

 

"Only when it's necessary," he finally said, Bella glared at him, then looked at the floor. "My condolences for Meredith."

 

Bella nodded.

 

"Thank you," she thanked him, and the ghost of silence lingered between them for a few seconds, the boy's electrifying blue eyes staring into Andriessen's warm amber eyes.

 

"What are you doing here, Tom? Really?" she finally asked impatiently.

 

"I'm giving my best to a friend." Tommy explained as if it were obvious.

 

Bella stared at him incredulously, giving a short, sarcastic laugh.

 

"Friend?" she asked. "You walked away, ignored me for three years, you treated me like you did not know me. Why are you telling lies now? None of this seems like a friendship to me."

 

Tommy sighed.

 

"It's all complicated now, Bella," he said. "We're not kids anymore, and being around someone like me would not do you any good."

 

Bella got up, Tommy grabbed her arm to ease the action and she pulled him back when she was fully up.

 

"Oh? I forgot you were the evil embodied," she said sarcastically, put her right hand around her waist. "It was me who had to decide, but thank you for leaving for three years."

 

Tommy took off his beret, tucked it into his pocket and made it easier for Bella to see her new haircut.

 

"Listen, I'm not going to justify myself, I walked away because I needed to get away."

 

"And why are you here now?"

 

"Because I needed to see you."

 

Bella closed her eyes briefly.

 

"Tommy, I've needed you all this time," she said sincerely. "You understand?"

 

"I understand, Bella, I understand." he replied, sounding agitated, taking the cigarettes out of his suit pocket and lighter as well.

 

Bella watched as he smoked and he had his eyes fixed at the end of the street, seeming not to want to face her.

 

He didn’t soften, Bella didn’t want to continue arguing. She loved him and he knew it, Tommy was always good at reading her and Bella was also aware that she was reciprocated.

 

But there was a wall between them, an invisible impediment.

 

He had been married, his young wife died. Bella had betrothed and killed her own fiance on her wedding day because she discovered that the man she was getting married to was raped her niece.

 

There was death following them, wherever they went.

 

Tommy released the smoke and came a little closer to Bella.

 

"I'm going to France, tomorrow."

 

Bella frowned.

 

"What the hell are you saying?"

 

"... And I left a sum of money with Pol, for you and Nina, you can take it whenever you want."

 

"Tommy-"

 

"Pol promised me she’ll help you, so she'll help you, look for her if you need anything," he continued speaking and Bella shook her head in disbelief.

 

"You're treating me like a widow."

 

A small curve appeared at the corner of the fleshy lips.

 

"Technically, you're a widow."

 

"I'm not your widow and you're alive," Bella told him, all she was doing now was trying to keep the mess inside her, without showing how terrible she felt with bad situations coming. "Why are you doing this now? It doesn’t suit you. "

 

"I messed up with you," he replied, swallowing his cigarette before speaking again. "I'm trying to fix this."

 

Bella looked him up and down.

 

"And I always have to wait for you, it's always like this." She wet her lips. "And now you’re approaching again just as you’ll go to the fucking war."

 

"I wanted to see you, Bella. But you were engaged to a fucking Italian, "he said quietly.

 

"You got married, and maybe it will continue like this until today. You don’t owe me anything and I do not owe you anything, Thomas, there's never been anything between us but a weird friendship "

 

"Who's telling lies now?"

 

She was the liar, but it was more to convince herself than anything else.

 

"You're a bastard."

 

"I know."

 

Bella rolled her eyes.

 

"I accept the money, there's nothing in my pantry besides spider homes." She spoke and tucked a bunch of her hair behind her ear in anger, looking down from under her eyelids. "And strive to come back alive, I hate wakes."

 

"Right. Let's make a bet."

 

The girl lifted her chin and knit her eyebrows together.

 

"Bet?"

 

Tommy shrugged.

 

"I'm a betting man," He said and Bella looked at him with disdain.

 

"Lucky for you I'm a betting woman too," Bella countered. "Make your proposal."

 

"If I come back alive, you marry me."

 

She stared at him as if he were just taking the gun out and pointing at her.

 

"Don’t play with me."

 

"I'm not joking, I don’t joke," he pointed at her with his hand holding the cigarette. "If I die, every penny I have will stay with you."

 

Bella's stiff posture fell apart, hands clenched into fist, her breath growing more breathless.

 

"You’re a fucking mad," whispered the insult without conviction,

 

Tommy looked at her seriously, then reached for her.

 

"So?"

 

Hesitantly and shaking, Bella shook his hand.

 

"You better come back alive or I'll shoot you myself."

 

The Shelby raised his eyebrows.

 

"I don’t doubt it,"

 

After he left, she was stunned in the middle of the empty street.

 

Bella was worried and afraid.

 

She wished that moment would happen, but not like that.

 

After Rebecca's client left, she went into the house and sat down on the couch, that's when the woman came downstairs.

 

Rebecca stood in front of her.

 

"I didn’t know I knew the Shelby family."

 

"I know Tommy," She murmured, leaning against the couch.

 

"That client paid me two pounds more because you killed your fiancé." Rebecca smirked. "If I were you, I'd make some money from it."

 

Bella stood motionless and expressionless on the sofa in her living room, but her brain held back to Rebecca's suggestion.

 

If her plans worked out, money would be no problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	4. third shot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which her business goes well.

"Listen, girls," Bella started in front of the women, interrupting the buzz between them, they were all delighted with the new house.

The new house was spacious, used to be an old boarding house, but Bella paid for the renovation and looked much better now. She had to spend on some serious improvements, but she thought more of it as an investment.

"Well, I'll introduce you to your new house today, you can now bring your family here to stay when you want." Bella paused as an excited buzz began. "Times are hard, many women are losing their jobs and the war is taking their men. You are incredible, and I am proud of what all this has become, here in you will never be humiliated or treated bad again, the place belongs to you, take good care of it.

There was a round of applause, some women had their eyes watering. Bella went down the two stair steps that came up to speak and was greeted by all of them.

That was when she saw an ordinary face come in through the front door.

The women scattered around the house to see their rooms, Polly Gray looked around.

"I'm impressed," said Tommy's aunt. "It explains why the money Tommy left is intact."

"How's it going, Pol?" Bella smiled approached her, the two finally hugged each other in an accomplice.

"Oh, honey, I'm glad you're not sitting in the junkyard crying like a widow anymore," Polly said and Bella laughed briefly.

"Things are going well, Pol." Bella broke away from Polly. "Some of the girls got jobs elsewhere and since February, I hired a lot of new girls."

A woman opened the door, Rebecca Robinson's freckled face looked worried to see Polly.

"A letter has arrived for you, Bella," the woman said, extending the envelope to Bella. "Was there a problem?"

Rebecca looked at Polly quickly, the woman rolled her eyes.

"No, Rebecca," Bella denied. "Polly is a friend."

Changing behavior, the woman smiled and greeted the other.

"See that insect." Polly referred to Rebecca, and Bella watched the scene amused by the older woman's teasing. "Well, these women seem to enjoy working for you."

"They needed protection and I needed money," Bella said and folded her arms. "Some of them have never been to the doctor, and some of them have been taken from their clients. I can control what happens from here, at least."

"They pay for protection."

"Some men like to attack, they do not have that problem here."

"Tommy will be very surprised to see you become Birmingham's youngest pimp." Polly sneered.

"I'm not a pimp, I hire prostitutes because they're the ones who ask the most for a job. They pay me off with their work, they're entertainers," Bella explained. "What they do to make higher income is none of my business."

Polly snorted, laughing and pulling a cigarette from her purse.

"I heard the Santini hired your girls."

Polly lit her cigarette.

"An almost lifetime contract, the Santini pays well to have them dancing at their parties."

The science of Bella's work was so easy, at first it was all about letting prostitutes use the free room of their house until they realized they could go further. When the money she earned as part of the arrangement with those girls began to grow, she knew art and business were very close friends.

Hired a girl who had been chorus girls in Paris, after she went bankrupt, came to the streets of Birmingham and her work was totally devalued, when she found it also prostituted. But Bella had the idea that she would teach the other girls, and soon to create girls to be entertainers became her original work.

Of course this was not the only job, many of her girls still preferred prostitution because of the status and expensive gifts given by gang leaders, but now there was another assignment for what they did.

Discovering information for other gangs has become a profitable business, and now even business owners hire girls to seduce their competitors.

It was a business that was growing very fast.

Bella offered to walk with Polly to the betting shop, not far from where she was living.

Polly Gray was impressed, and compared to other women in Small Heath, it was an event that didn’t happen often.

Tommy's girl was walking with her own legs instead of sitting and waiting for everything to fall out of the sky because her boyfriend was a gangster. What she created, the idea that came out of nowhere, was working.

She knew her nephew loved Bella, was very clear since they were very young. The girl's late grandmother was always against, but Polly understood young love better than anyone else.

She was ambitious, like her nephew.

Polly still didn’t know if this was good or bad.

"Tommy sent me a letter a few days ago," Bella said, walking slowly to have time to talk to Polly. "He writes it was not to worry, he would come back."

"He writes that in the letters he sends me too," Polly said bitterly. "It looks like this war will never end."

"Arthur and John send letters too?" Bella questioned seeing the distress in Polly's eyes.

Polly rubbed her temple and sighed.

"No, Tommy tells them about the letters he sends me."

"They are well?" she asked hesitantly.

"The day the letter arrived for me, they were in. Today I don’t know," Polly said, shaking her head. "Such is the war."

Bella just wanted Tommy to come home, and every time she walked near the canal, she felt a terrible emptiness in her chest to think he might have been killed in combat. Each time a letter came to her, she feared the news, she feared for her life.

She hated it, she hated being powerless.

Bella spent nights staring out the window and wondering if he was sleeping well, if she ate she wondered if Tommy was eating well.

"It seems that this war is consuming us on the inside." she reflected, crossing her arms over the cold and anguish.

It was dark and wet under the tunnel, the risk of collapsing was as great as the risk of being attacked. He had to be alert at any moment, any hesitation could mean the death of himself or the other soldiers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Danny clutching his wife's photograph as if it were sacred. He shouldn’t be distracted by his action, but his thoughts unknowingly flew into Bella’s amber eyes.

He should have asked her, he should have taken a picture too, in the midst of all the horror of blood and mud, Tommy was afraid to forget her face.

There was no other way, he had to win that bet.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic of Peaky Blinders, i'm happy and a little insecure of writing a caracter with a such complex personality like Tommy hehe. I'm really hope that you have fun reading it!


End file.
